FTL: Eternal Winter
by Nekro3
Summary: FTL: Eternal Winter is the continuation of the fan-created narrative FTL: New Eden. It follows Nathan and Bigby, two Zoltan brothers on a journey across the universe as a crushed civilisation fights around them.
1. FTL: Eternal Winter - Prologue

Nathan and Bigby woke up one morning and realised they were the only ones left alive. The Zoltan brothers counted the corpses littered around the station's cargo bay - a full complement apart from the two of them.

"The hunger must have taken the last of them overnight."

"Yes. It would appear that way."

It had been months since the last food delivery, maybe because the producers on the planet below were solely focussed on saving themselves or because they were already dead too.

"Well, what do we do now? I mean, we set up the distress beacon ages ago and no-one's turned up apart from pirates."

"We promised we wouldn't abandon them."

"They're dead, Nathan. All of them. There's no point staying here. Eventually the hydrogen's going to run out, and you know what happens if we run out of fuel."

Nathan thought for a moment. The Zoltan were powered by a form of internal nuclear fusion, and without a supply of hydrogen, they would collapse.

"You are correct. It's just..."

He stopped mid-sentence, reminiscing about how the people on Yevon III had begged them to help when the food stopped arriving and how he had promised that he wouldn't leave until they were safe. He looked at the metal floor. He remembered how he had watched some of his best friends thrown into huge machines to produce food for the survivors and watched Bigby climb in and pull out their bones without a second thought, and how in the days leading up to that day the remaining eleven survivors had lay motionless, waiting for the false miracle Nathan had promised them.

"...We didn't save them, did we?"

Bigby grabbed his brother's shoulder.

"Look, I'm sorry we didn't save them, but what's important now is that we leave. We can take any remaining fuel cells from the reactor and get out in the Nightingale in the docking bay."

Nathan said nothing but nodded. His brother smiled reassuringly and walked out the blast doors to get the fuel cells, leaving Nathan kneeling among the last to die from the famine, before he too left the corpses to their silence.

Hours later, the Nightingale was fully prepared and activated. Bigby and Nathan had found some old combat uniforms in the hold, and were now both dressed in them. Nathan, now recovered from earlier, became captain of the ship with Bigby as first officer. Bigby had always hated being in command and had usually left it to Nathan instead - even though he was a bit... well... different, he was definitely the best strategist and pilot that he knew.

"All systems online, Nat."

"Thank you. Prepare for Faster Than Light."

They silently watched the bars fill up on the screen until alarm warnings interrupted with red lights and blaring sirens.

"There's something coming right for us! It's a direct collision path!" Nathan shouted as he prepared evasive action.

"It looks like... an stasis pod?"

"What? We did hundreds of scans! There were no vessels anywhere near us!"

"Then that thing has been drifting for a long, long time. I wonder if the passengers are even alive..." Bigby's voice trailed off into thought.

"There's only one way to find out. Get ready to perform an emergency clamp in the cargo bay."

"Sure thing." Bigby ran out of the engine room towards the rear of the ship as Nathan rotated and accelerated to match the stasis pod. As he braked a little, the stasis pod slowly moved closer to the open cargo bay doors. Concentrating furiously, he watched the blip of the pod merge with the wrench-like structure of the Nightingale. After the two blips had become one, he shut down the engines, activated the clamps and ran towards the cargo bay.

Bigby had already activated the pod lying in the middle of the huge chamber, and the defrosting was about to finish.

"There's still lifesigns from inside, but just one. I also checked the records. This thing has been floating around for over ten years."

Nathan nodded but his eyes stayed fixed to the pod. It had been damaged heavily by asteroids and solar radiation, with dents and burns all over. Stasis chambers were meant to activate a distress beacon as soon as they were ejected, but the antenna on this pod had melted away from a laser shot. Suddenly, the canopy opened with a hiss, and a human male with scars all over his body lay motionless. Blood started to seep out of the cuts as his heart restarted.

"We need to get him to the medbay. Those scars are going to start bleeding now that he's out of stasis."

They both carried one half of him as they walked to the Medbay. Nathan noticed his clothes. They were the remnants of a uniform, but it had been shredded and bloodstained so much that Nathan doubted it had been red to begin with. Bigby stared at his limp body, and wondered who he was and why he had been hurt so badly. Many scars were deep and bloodied handprints showed where the man had covered them up in desperation. If he didn't get medical attention now, he would die.

"Bigby?"

Nathan called to him, and Bigby realised he had been staring at the man's torn clothes for a bit too long.

"Oh right, yeah. Medbay."

He would have told Nathan a long time ago about how he felt, but he had a feeling that love didn't really compute with him at all. It wasn't worth confusing him.

They arrived at the medbay and held him down to a medical bed. Nathan tore off the man's clothes, and again Bigby tried not to make eye contact for fear of getting distracted.

"I'm going to need a skin welder and an A- blood transfusion pack." Nathan said after a quick scan of the man's wounds.

"Got it." Bigby turned and picked up the instrument from a tray across the room and a blood pack from a freezer in the wall. Nathan completed the surgery in minutes with pinpoint accuracy and waited for the man to wake up.

"...Where am I?" He asked slowly. Though he seemed calm, inside his mind reeled, trying to locate a fixed position to neutralise the coma induced nausea.

"You're safe. This is the Nightingale's medical bay. I healed your scars and gave you a blood transfusion. My name is Nathan."

He looked at Nathan, his mind registering that he was Zoltan, not Mantis. He sat up and saw the other Zoltan across the room before the pain forced him back down.

"The name's Bigby." He said, trying to hide the awkwardness from his voice. "We found you drifting in a stasis pod. I checked the onboard computer's records, it's been over ten years since you launched the pod. Ten years in cryogenic stasis."

The man nodded slowly and sighed. "I guess you want to know who I am, right?"

Nathan nodded.

"About ten years ago, if what you're saying is true, I fucked up a Mantis ship pretty bad. Crashed my ship straight into their reactor and hijacked a teleporter signal back to safety." He laughed slightly, but the pain from his freshly sealed cuts stalled his breathing. "Let's just say the few survivors weren't impressed."

He looked over at Nathan who had prepared another one of the combat uniforms they had found earlier.

"Your previous clothes were damaged. Please wear this for now."

The man nodded as he got up a second time, unfazed by Nathan's abnormal way of speaking.

"Thanks. I guess they were torn in a few places."

He laughed a hollow, almost dead laugh before continuing to talk.

"I need to get somewhere. Some friends of mine... They didn't get captured by the Mantis and escaped to form a colony. I need to find them."

"Where are they?"

"The Delta sector, but I have a feeling that if I've been drifting for ten years we're not that close anymore, huh."

"We're in the Sigma sector. It would take a long time to get there."

"I see."

"And also," Nathan pulled out his stun taser and thrust it into his back. "how do we know we can trust you?"

The man let off another hollow laugh.

"You saw the records. If I was planning a trap the ambushers would be long gone by now. And anyway, it's been ten years. I have no idea what's happened over that time."

"Fine." Nathan put the taser at his side but kept it charged.

"Thanks. So what did happen whilst I was gone?"

It was Bigby who answered. "The Federation collapsed and the Rebels took over. Things were pretty good for the first few months, but then the leaders got even more greedy than the last ones. They live on the Flagship, eating our food as we starve. The population of every species, even Crystal, has dwindled. We're the last survivors from a famine aboard the Yevon III. I haven't seen another Zoltan apart from Nathan in at least six years."

"Shit..." The man stood up in his new uniform. "So... are you taking vacancies?" he asked casually, as if he had forgotten everything Bigby had just said.

"What do you mean? Do you intend on joining us?"

"On the last ship I was on, I was chief shields specialist. I'm sure I could help here and there."

"We don't need another crewmember. I suggest you-"

"Nathan. We need to talk about this."

Nathan walked over to Bigby.

"What are we meant to do with him? I mean, he's not going to find another ship around here!"

"I still don't know if we can trust him. If anything, the Eternal Winter's taught me that."

"I'll be fine, Nat. If we leave him, he'll just get killed by pirates. Plus, I've always wanted to visit the Delta sector." He smiled reassuringly.

"...Fine. He is under your responsibility."

Nathan calmly turned to the man standing on the opposite side of the room.

"Welcome aboard, officer...?"

The man smiled.

"Vince. Officer Vince."


	2. FTL: Eternal Winter - Part I

Part One

"So... what weapons does this thing have?"

"This vessel is equipped with a standard Halberd Beam and a second generation Ioniser Blaster." Nathan paused in the middle of the corridor and the others stopped behind him. "The Nightingale was never built for combat, but we decided that the weapons on IS4 would be useless defending an empty station and transferred them to the ship." His voice was distant and emotionless, but even so, Bigby and Vince both detected remorse hidden somewhere within. Nathan continued abruptly.

"Since our current mission is to transport Commander Vince to the co-ordinates he has provided, violence is not a priority. We are equipped to defend ourselves, but should avoid violence if possible. Also note that, for the moment, the Nightingale's weapons systems are too primitive to support the Ion Blaster and the Halberd Beam at the same time."

"Right. Anything else I should know, Nathan?" Vince asked casually.

"It's Captain Nathan, and no. You might be an officer, but in my eyes you're just a passenger. Don't forget that."

Bigby stared at Nathan. It wasn't like him to be so... spiteful, but then again, on IS4 the Zoltan had had trust issues. He'll get over it soon enough, he thought.

They stopped at the door to the Shields bay.

"This is your workstation. You will do exactly what I or First Officer Bigby order you to do. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." He replied, without an ounce of expression on display.

"Good. Bigby, I want you give Officer Vince instructions on the Nightingale's operating system and then charge the FTL drive. Tell me when you're done."

"Ok, got it."

Nathan nodded and walked away towards the cockpit. As soon as the doors closed, the facade dropped from Vince's face, and he returned to his normal state.

"Wow, what is his problem? I thought you guys were meant to be nice." He laughed as he sat down in the chair.

"Don't worry, he just takes a while to trust people, that's all." Bigby smiled back.

"Nah, it's fine. Used to know a guy like him on my old ship. Engi, name was Johnson. He even talked like Nathan."

"Yeah, I guess Engi and Zoltan are pretty similar." Vince nodded and smiled, before turning his chair to the console.

"Yeah... all this looks familiar... I think I'll be fine with this, no need to show me the ropes. I'm surprised actually, you'd think that they'd have updated the software by now."

"Well, the Eternal Winter kind of took over people's attention. There wasn't time for programming, just survival."

"Makes sense. Anyway, how do you know Nathan? You both seem to get on pretty well."

"We're brothers. Well, kind of."

"What do you mean?"

"Well we weren't formed from the same nebula, but for as long as I can remember he's been with me. You want to know something cool?"

"Sure."

"We're both thousands of years old. The Zoltan existed long before any other race. We've seen empires form and collapse, and seen the universe come close to death way too many times. But throughout all of it, we've been together. It's amazing when you think about it."

"So how long do you live?"

Bigby laughed. "Well, it's not quite that simple. When we die, our body collapses and explodes into a nebula. And from that nebula, more Zoltan will be formed. I guess you could say that technically you never die, but in terms of my lifetime, I'd say we live for about fifteen thousand years on average."

"Really? Wow."

Vince thought for a minute about how long that was. Fifteen thousand years. His life must seem so insignificant to the Zoltan around him, just a sentence in a book of a million pages.

"But yeah, we've always known each other. What about you? How do you know your friends on the colony?"

"New Eden? Well, only Xin and Johnson actually got there. I knew Xin long before we got separated through another friend, Matt. I only knew Johnson about a week before we left the station, though. Then there was Rebekah..." The energy drained from Vince's face. "I guess... she loved me. Not sure whether I really loved her back though. She died with Matt, trying to save him. Two people who I held close to me gone in about ten minutes."

He stopped, close to tears.

"I guess my family's dead too. They were always poor with a military history with the Federation. Bet they didn't stand a chance under Rebel control."

Bigby, unsure of what to say, changed the subject. "So, uh..." He began to blush again. "Apart from Rebekah... was there any other person you loved?"

"Not really. Never had the time."

Vince, now back to his usual self, noticed Bigby's expressions of awkwardness.

"Why...?"

"Oh! No reason. I should, uh, go and sort that FTL drive out..."

Bigby half stumbled out of the shield control room. Vince turned back to the console in front of him. Did this Bigby guy like him? He was open minded, that wasn't the problem. It was more that he couldn't stop thinking about Rebekah. Her last words echoed in his mind.

"Goodbye... Vince..."

He couldn't stop thinking about what he could have done if he had known he loved her sooner. As the Nightingale made its first jump, her words continued to echo through his mind.

A ship appeared on the right of the Nightingale as soon as it dropped out of FTL. Nathan recognised the pirate markings as Slyth, a predominantly Slug faction which had attacked IS4 multiple times.

"You guys still have pirates, Captain?" Nathan heard over the comms.

"If anything, we have more. The food shortages caused everyone to turn to desperate measures. All living things will do anything to survive, no matter how many others die in the process."

Vince, unsure how to respond, decided to just charge shields and keep quiet.

"Slyth Scout, please discharge weapons or we will be forced to open fire." Nathan spoke calmly into the microphone.

"You... you're that Zoltan from ISSSSSSSSS4, aren't you? I bet they're getting a bit hungry by now, don't you think?"

Nathan ignored the obvious taunt. "Please discharge your weapons or we will be forced to open fire."

"I'm afraid we won't be disssssscharging anything, Zoltan scum!"

A laser hit the Zoltan powershield, and at the exact same moment, Nathan locked the Halberd Beam onto the pirate's weapons systems. After a few seconds, the beam ripped through the enemy shields and deep into its hull, leaving it powerless without weapons, shields or oxygen.

"Slyth, this is your last opportunity to surrender."

"Pah! We'd rather die than sssssubmit to you!" The Slug shouted over the screams and fires in the background.

"Suits me." Nathan replied as the beam prepared for a second shot.

"No, wai-"

The beam disintegrated the vessel into tiny pieces splattered with blue Slug fluids.

Good riddance.

"Prepare to harvest scrap. Officer Vince, I assume you're now used to handling a powershield?"

"Yes sir, these things are amazing... It's so simple, yet ingenious..."

"Good. Get it recharged for the next encounter."

After a few minutes, the ship jumped to the next beacon.

An asteroid field orbited the sun near the beacon, the icy rock reflecting light in every direction.

"Officer Vince, prepare the shields for asteroids, we're going to scan them for resources."

There was no reply.

"Officer Vince?"

"Oh, sorry sir. It's just... I had a bad experience in one of these before."

"What?" Came the reply from Bigby and Nathan.

"This arm's robotic." he gestured to his prosthetic limb. "I guess I never mentioned it, huh."

"Wait, so how did you lose it in an asteroid field? Did your old one get crushed?" Bigby asked, confused.

"Not exactly... it's a long story."

"Which we don't have time for." Nathan finished. "Charge the shields."

"Of course, sir."

Suddenly, from behind a huge asteroid, a Slyth pirate appeared with weapons charged.

"Another one?" Vince asked.

"They hold majority control over this sector. Best get used to them."

Nathan grabbed the microphone again.

"Slyth vessel, please dis-"

"YOU MURDERERS! YOU KILLED MY FUCKING SON!"

Nathan stopped, confused.

"YOU BLEW UP HIS SHIP LIKE IT WAS NOTHING! HE NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG! I JUST WANTED HIM TO GROW UP AND NOT STARVE LIKE HIS MOTHER! WAS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?"

The crew remained still until Vince broke the silence with "Shit...".

"I'LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR I'LL KILL EVERY FUCKING THING ON YOUR SHIP!"

"What do we do?" Bigby asked.

"I am deeply sorry for your loss, but you're son's captain left us no choice. We asked for their co-operation many times but they refused to surrender-"

"BULLSHIT! YOU KILLED THEM BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN THEM! DID YOU THINK THAT NONE OF THEM MATTERED?"

The voice calmed down.

"There were three Slugs and two humans on that ship. Do you think that just because the captain refuses to surrender the others don't?"

Nathan remembered the screaming he had heard in the background when the ship refused surrender.

"And now, I'm going to kill you too, just like you killed them."

Before Nathan could respond, the Slyth ship blocked all communications, charged weapons and deployed a beam drone.

"We can't kill them, can we?" Vince asked. "I mean, we just killed that guy's son. It's right for him to feel hatred."

"Officer Vince is correct. Bigby. Can we hide our jump signatures?"

"Yeah. If we jump now, they won't be able to follow us..." Bigby paused. "I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do though."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. If someone killed me and then ran off, how would you feel?"

"I... I don't know."

"We shouldn't hide. We need to talk to him."

"...Alright."

Nathan picked up the microphone again.

"Slyth, please respond. We understand your current situation and would like to offer any assistance necessary."

There was no response, but the weapons stopped firing. After a few more seconds, the enemy responded.

"Just... go. If I ever see you again, I'll kill you, make no mistake. Remember that."

Without further delay, the ship jumped, leaving the Nightingale alone in the asteroid field.

"Prepare for FTL." Nathan said, sounding more distant and cold than ever.

"Wait wait wait," Vince interrupted. "That's it? That's all you're going to say? Just forget about it and hope we all move on?"

Nathan's green shade darkened, and the wisps of energy circling his body became jagged and spiny.

"I am the captain of this vessel. If you have a problem, we'll drop you off at the nearest habitable planet. But until then, you will do everything I say to the letter. I have lived centuries before your creation and I will survive long after your ashes are dispersed into space. You are nothing more than a liability. Now return to your station."

The room was silent for a moment, with Bigby glancing between the two people, asking himself if he should get involved. Before he could choose, however, Vince made the decision first.

"If you don't start biting some bullets soon, I'll be more than happy to stuff them through your teeth."

He left without another word. Nathan returned to the captain's seat and resumed control of the Nightingale. Bigby wondered how long it would be until the tension between them crippled the ship from the inside.


End file.
